Only if for a Night
by secretceremonials
Summary: A short story based on the idea that Gale and Katniss ended up together
1. A Year Later

Her braided brown hair whipped in the wind, the wispy bits over her ears getting in her eyes. She giggled as she pushed them away for the third time, and not being able to stand watching her for any longer I jogged over, calling her name.

"Katnip!"

I tried to make it seem like I hadn't been watching her, but it was no secret now that I am completely infatuated with her. The way she braids her own hair of a morning, re-doing it because she isn't satisfied with it. The cheeky look she gives me when she knows that I know I've done something wrong but she loves me for it anyway, the way her lips fit perfectly with mine... I never imagined that after she came out of the arena for the 74th Hunger Games that she would take to me as willingly as she did. No more fighting, no more tears, no more Peeta.

Have you ever been in love? Like gut wrenching, heart pulling, love? I have. I have been for about a year now, but with a girl that didn't know I existed in a boyfriend capacity. We would always be running off past the boundaries of District 12 where we would hunt together, I the traps and her the bow and arrow. We would spend hours out there hunting for our next meal, until that fateful reaping day where her dear sister was to be pulled from the ball, and she to volunteer.

"Capitol to Katnip, are you there?" I tease.  
"Oh sorry Gale, I've been so out of it lately." She replies in the exasperated tone that makes me think she doesn't sleep enough. I lean in and hug her all the same. I can smell the woods on her, the fresh moss pasted to her neck from wiping away a bug or one of those pesky hairs, that have flown into my mouth. I laugh and fake gag at the same time before picking Katniss up by the hips and hugging her to me, spinning her around like she was an infant that just came running to her father.  
"You're very happy today aren't you?" Katniss observes, kissing my forehead.  
"I just never believed that I would end up with you the way I have. I thought for a while there..." I digress.  
"What? That I would stay with Peeta?"  
"Well, yeah. I mean, that kiss. Then that whole thing after the Games where Haymitch was saying that you would have to pretend to be in love with him..." I put her down.  
"...and that I was actually in love with him and you didn't think for a second that I would play all of Panem and trick them into believing I was in love with the Boy with the Bread?" she finishes in a hushed voice.  
"Well if you're going to put it like that."  
"I'm just messing with you Gale, chin up." She produces a small bread roll from her pocket and throws it at me, I miss catch it and it rolls into the puddle of mud at my feet.


	2. Smouldering Flame

Prim has always been very fond of me, and she makes a point of making that fact known. Before I've even stepped foot into the house I can hear her asking for me.  
"Katniss is Gale coming over tonight?"  
"Doesn't he always, Little Duck?" Katniss responds, tucking in the tail of Prim's shirt whilst passing through the kitchen.

I step further into the house and try to keep my presence a secret, I always loved the way Katniss and Prim talk about me when I'm not there, sometimes I just wish they would say something negative but I'm never rewarded with that satisfaction. Creeping further into the kitchen I step on the floorboard that I swear is the opening to Hell. It sounds like a wailing child when you step on it and I manage to stand on it every time I'm in the house. This prompts Prim to turn around and she sees me standing next to the alcove doorway, in my wet and dirty hunting clothes.  
"Gale!" she yelps and comes frolicking towards me and even though she is considerably smaller than me, she embraces me in a warm, welcoming hug.  
"I made something special for you Gale," she proclaims excitedly, "with all this food now we've been experimenting with squirrel and I've made a squirrel and potato pie!"  
"Sounds... interesting." I recover. My stomach growls for attention but I don't feel like eating. Knowing that Katniss chose me always makes me wonder what might have happened if she had have stayed with Peeta; would we still be friends? Maybe I wouldn't be stuck in this void that seems to continue past all boundaries of Panem into space and endless time, living in fear that at any moment she could turn around and treat me the same way she treated Peeta in the arena.

My train of thought is shortly interrupted by a swift kiss on my cheek. Katniss has returned from within the house and she is standing in front of me, her hair wet and neatly tied back in a fresh braid, smelling of soap with a soft hint of rose. She is holding a plate with a piece of the squirrel on it, but not in pie form.  
"You know me too well Katnip," I grin.  
"I didn't have the heart to tell her, we'll eat outside." She takes my hand and leads me out of the house to under the clearing sky, the rain from moments ago no where to be seen.

You could slice the silence with a butter knife, all these thoughts running through my mind about me and Katniss, not wanting to disturb the bliss that we have created, but being curious for so many answers that I know I can't have. We stop walking and Katniss perches on a wooden fence surrounding the house. I lean up against it next to her, digging into my tender squirrel. I turn to look at her and she has trained her vision on... nothing. Nothing that I can see anyway. I reach to grab her hand and she grabs my wrist first. Startled, I drop the plate of squirrel and jump into a straight stance.  
"You need to go." She says, in a hushed and hasty tone to no one.  
"You okay Katnip?" I worry.  
"Didn't you hear me Gale? Go! NOW!" She looks at me this time and my heart starts to race. I'm too confused to ask her what is going on, but I leave all the same. I don't know where I'm going but I'm leaving. When I think she can't see me I cautiously turn around, and I see Katniss still staring off into space, not focussing on anything and her expression is blank. Did she just break up with me? Was the whole idea that Katniss Everdeen, the Girl on Fire, half of the Star Crossed Lovers, might actually fall in love with me and not the bakers son, so far fetched that it would never last? Before I have time to answer my own question two Peace Keepers have gripped Katniss' arms and are taking her away in a cart. She doesn't kick, she doesn't scream, just walks in unbroken silence.


End file.
